


Clean Clothes

by BurningChrØme (Tear_U_Apart)



Series: Life's One Long Serving of Shitburgers [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Enduring Life, Original Nonfiction, Poverty, Tales of Just Getting By
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 22:34:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20786141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tear_U_Apart/pseuds/BurningChr%C3%98me
Summary: I ate fast food out of a trash can in the 24 hour laundromat that I use today.





	Clean Clothes

* * *

I ate fast food out of a trash can in the 24 hour laundromat that I use today. I didn't eat my reclaimed food on the spot. I waited until I left the laundromat and when to a McDonald's (where the food didn't originate from) and quickly devoured it there before going in to said fast food chain to use their free Wi-Fi to check job posting and to overhear interviews from people who were desperate enough to apply. The interviewer couldn't have sounded more disinterested. He was the worst actor I sat through but at least he showed up. I had an interview at the same McDonald's a few months ago and my interview was for five p.m. I arrived at four-fifty and no one showed up but me. I promptly said fuck it and chalked it up to more time I been suckered into wasting off my life.

But back to how I came to eat out of the trash for the first time since I have no illusions it won't be the last time. An older woman came in to the laundromat to wash her husband's diesel fuel-smelling work clothes and then announced that she had bought two hamburgers but couldn't eat them both no matter how much she liked to eat. There were three people in the laundromat including myself when she made the generously sweet offer. I was at the other end of the laundromat keeping up my Tri-Peaks winning streak on my laptop since the laundromat's Wi-Fi wasn't feeling like making a connection for me. I was like usual planning to surfing the job postings, applying to jobs I won't be considered for on sheer principal too. And when I would get frustrated open up another tab to YouTube to amuse myself.

Anyway back to the older woman; who made the offer towards the two other people closest to her, a young woman and a tatted man, who both politely declined. I was not asked or I would've accepted on the principle of not wasting food while secretly thinking that I couldn't afford to throw away food like she apparently could. The older woman laughed as the tattooed man told her the reason he didn't want it was because he's trying to lose weight. So the older woman with a jovial light chuckle flippantly threw the burger into the trash can. Perfectly acceptable food, still warm, fresh, untouched and still wrapped, boxed and bagged. Napkins included which I didn't know about until I opened the bag of my score at McDonald's.

I spent the next thirty minutes biding my time while my clothes tumbled in the cold water and detergent. After that it was on to loading them into the dryer and subtly waiting for everyone to leave so I could rescue the burger from being outright wasted. It was in those moments between transferring my clothes from the wash to dryer that I realized how far I've slipped. I've hit bottom before but this time it was different. Though how could I possibly forget the time back when I was twenty and we ran out of money and we had to go borrow money just to live and pay the bills and then because we still had no money coming in we had to use the money we borrowed to make payments on the money we borrowed. I'm forty now and no better off. Clearly.

Back to the present though, the older woman who threw the burger away was finally leaving after folding her husband's less diesel-smelling clothes but then another man came in but he wasn't around when she threw the food in the trash. I'd already planned on disguising my food rescue by throwing my used laundry sheets into the same trash can. But while I was still at the other end of the laundromat folding my old but clean clothes the new person noticed me and called me out for being too quiet. I never felt the need to shoot my mouth off in public. I've never felt the need to draw attention to myself anymore than I do because of the way I look. I ignored the man's attempt at being what most would call 'cute'.

I continued standing there carefully folding my clothes, humming along with 'The Jefferson's' opening theme until someone changed the channel, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pull that hamburger out of the trash can. It was a good thing that the laundry attendent had obviously changed the trash bags recently since there wasn't much trash in the bin that the older woman had tossed it in. Laundromat bins can be their own brand of disgusting; think what emptying lint traps from fifteen dryers would look like piled up. Then there's the regular trash people thrown in there. I've seen stained rags, vomit, baby diapers and my personal favorite (that I caught a glimpse of in the past) holely and soiled underwear that the person realized wasn't worth another wash only after they took it out of their house.

I can only afford to do my laundry once a month. I wear my shirts and jeans more than once before I declare them officially dirty. I'm chubby too so the first thing I wear out in my jeans is the crotch right where my thighs rub together. I have done more than a few artful patches in that area and I don't care if people see them. I know I can get away with the look for two reasons. One being that I don't give a fuck and two there are new jeans you can buy that already have holes in them. I have a pair that I bought many years ago now that I never wear since I have so many with holes in them. I'm doing patches on patches at this point and no sooner than I cover one hole I find another. Eventually I'll have to give up the ghost with some of my jeans.

This time though I was not only having to wash dirty clothes but also clothes that I'd been forced to wash not because of wearing them but due to the fact that mice had gotten into my clothes drawers, shit in there and then proceeded to squeeze out baby mice in there too. I threw out the tiny no better than a kidney bean rodents out when I found them two night beforehand. The cut up paper and the anger I felt when cleaning out my drawers was mostly disheartening so resorting to eat out the trash was the bonus. I was lucky enough to have money to travel to wash my clothes much less spurge on food. I used to eat while I was waiting for my clothes to wash and dry but that was in slightly less awful days and it was strictly stuff off the value menu.

After I'd folded all of my clothes and put them back into the trash bags I carried them in I made my move towards the trash can. The man who was trying to be cute was watching a 'M*A*S*H' re-run so his back was to me. He didn't know about the food in the trash though. I really didn't want anyone seeing me do what I was about to do except for the camera's in the laundromat of course. I don't smile for the camera. There are two camera's stationed over that trash can alone and of course there are more in that section of the laundromat. I didn't care about that though. I had my used dryer sheets wadded up in my hand to throw away even though there was another trash can beside the folding table I used. I reached in to throw my crumpled dryer sheets away which I did but then I grabbed the folded brown bag.

I walked back to the folding table, bag in hand, and started collecting my trash bags of laundry. I had three bags plus my nearly empty bottle of detergent, box of dryer sheets and my generic Oxy-Clean. After two trips total I was finally ready to leave. All in all it wasn't the most degrading experience of my life. Is it bad that I know more is on the horizon and the inevitable depression of it all? The burger tasted okay since it was mostly cold at this point. But I happily ate the tomato, onions and the descent sized meat patty. I skipped the bun and the cheese since putting on weight is the last thing I need. I couldn't afford new clothes if my life depended on it. I had indigestion for the rest of the night thanks to the onions even after brushing my teeth and Listerene-ing the hell of my mouth.

**_END_**


End file.
